Will Mike Wallace Sign His Tender and Report to Steelers Training Camp?

Earlier this month, I broke down why it's important to be patient when it comes to the contract negotiations between the Pittsburgh Steelers and wide receiver Mike Wallace. But, with the latest report far bleaker than any others we've seen thus far, it might be time to get a little concerned.

Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette broke the news on Wednesday that contract talks between Wallace and the Steelers have been suspended and whatever offer the team had on the table has been rescinded. Now Wallace has no other option than to sign the $2.7 million first round tender offer or continue to hold out.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin expressed his disdain for Wallace sitting out of camp, saying, 

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"We want him to be a part of this thing both short term and long term. We've been in negotiations with him. He's not here today. It's unfortunate for him. One thing that experience has taught me is that this is bigger than all of us. It's bigger than Mike, it's bigger than me, so I mean that when I say it's unfortunate for him that he's not here."

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This is a crucial training camp for the Steelers' offense. They have a new offensive coordinator, Todd Haley, and need to spend camp installing his plays, running through them until they become second-nature and tweaking them to suit the strength of the players on the field.

With Wallace being the Steelers' leading receiver, not having him at camp working through the new playbook puts the entire team at a disadvantage. And though Wallace is likely aware of how behind he'll be the more days of camp he misses, it doesn't look like a solution will come any time soon.

Dave Bryan of SteelersDepot.com broke down what a potential Wallace contract could look like, earlier this week. He stresses that the issue is not the total value of the contract, but the guaranteed money and the way the deal is structured that is likely holding up this process.

Bryan surmises that Wallace is likely looking for somewhere around $28 million in guaranteed money, regardless of the contract's overall value.

With the Steelers' cap situation this year and the next not likely to support that kind of cash outlay, Bryan proposes that $25 million of the deal could be a series of bonuses split over two years ($15-18 million this year in the form of a signing bonus, $7-10 million the next in an option bonus) plus a base guaranteed salary of $1-2 million. They would also try to minimize the cap hit of releasing Wallace before the contract was up.

However, this all appears to be moot speculation at this point, considering whatever the Steelers had on offer has since been taken off the table. Wallace apparently has no choice but to sign the first round tender in good faith that negotiations will continue, and that work will be done by both sides to get an adequate contract in place before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2013.

As of now, Emmanuel Sanders is working in the X receiver position that usually belongs to Wallace. Though Wallace is the Steelers' established star receiver, this does pose some problems for Wallace.

He's not at practice and hasn't worked with the new playbook (though it is in his possession), while Sanders has been on the field for OTAs, minicamp and training camp. He's got the advantage, in terms of executing plays, so Wallace may find himself playing a rapid game of catch up if and when he reports to camp.

At this point, with no offer on the table, there are few incentives for Wallace to continue his holdout. The perception that Wallace is being needlessly selfish will continue to grow the longer he stays away from Latrobe, and it could harm his relationship with some of his fellow players.

There seems to be little indication that Wallace intends to sign the tender any time soon, however. The longer this goes on, the farther behind he will be and the greater the threat that his holdout continues into the regular season.

The bottom line is that the Steelers work very hard to pay the players who deserve it—in 2005, Hines Ward held out for the first two weeks of camp, and negotiations stopped during that time. When he returned, he had a long-term deal three weeks later.

The Steelers, in this instance, can do little but wait for Wallace's return. As a player without a contract, they cannot fine him for missing camp and they cannot take any of the tender money off of the table until November. 

While it seems unlikely that Wallace will miss the entirety of camp, the fact that negotiations are over and the two sides are currently at an uncomfortable impasse has made that a much more realistic possibility. 

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